Independence at one end of the house with your own sitting room opening onto a courtyard garden. Good pub for food a few minutes' walk away

A lovely modern Provençal house, light and welcoming, in a valley of vineyards and forest, tucked peacefully away from the coast

Three spacious manor apartments with views for big gatherings of family or friends. Walk to the beach or the pub, play tennis and croquet

A very pretty Victorian gothic house of limestone and brick, sitting peacefully on the edge of the village, eight miles from foodie Ludlow

A cosy cottage on a farm down a long winding track, wonderfully rural with footpaths across fields or along the canal

Ease into a slower way of life from this beautiful Tuscan farmhouse surrounded by vineyards in the valley below medieval Montepulciano

A beautifully converted dairy with a magical garden in a quiet village surrounded by lovely countryside

In Andalusia, step through an ancient wooden door into this Moorish-inspired townhouse with a pool and tapas bars just moments away

Romantic cottage within 25 acres of fields, garden and orchard with fresh veg to pick, wellies for walking and animals roaming the farm

A fabulous country boozer, revamped in style with a buzzy atmosphere, great food and welcoming bedrooms - good walking countryside too

A peaceful, harmonious house with roots in the 14th century, a glorious enclosed pool area and a huge amount of space for happy gatherings

Come to stay in a fine old townhouse with elegant proportions, high ceilings and a rambling, English-style garden close to Mont Saint-Michel

An 18th-century cottage for four on a working sheep farm: walk the Pentland Hills, get the bus to Edinburgh for culture

Comfortable, traditional, accessible and in the grounds of an old rectory with meadows and the river Frome nearby for summer dips

Chat long with gentle hosts over home-grown dinners; see stars above, walks, rivers and wildlife all around. Rustic comfort in rural Burgos

Come for much grace, space and inspiration in this huge-windowed, view-filled spot surrounded by gloriously untrammelled countryside